EARLY ARAB NAVIGATION. 105 



guide themselves according as they find the stars high 

 or low, and this they execute with certain measures." 

 Whether the Arab pilots who were met by Vasco da Gama, 

 in 1497, after his famous voyage around the Cape of Good 

 Hope, were provided with compasses is a disputed ques- 

 tion. One of da Gama's companions, 1 after stating that 

 the largest ships, encountered did not exceed 200 tons bur- 

 den and were of very weak construction, adds that "no 

 one ever navigates these seas with the compass, but with 

 certain quadrants of wood, which appears to be very diffi- 

 cult, principally when the weather is foggy and the stars 

 cannot be seen." Contrariwise it is asserted that the 

 Arabs, at the time of da Gama, were instructed in so many 

 of the arts of navigation that they did not yield much to 

 the Portugese mariners in the science and practice of mari- 

 time matters. 2 



It is obvious that even up to the end of the i5tli century 

 a decided doubt exists as to the use of the compass by any 

 Arab or Indian navigators. Nor can anything be inferred 

 in their favor, even if it be conceded that the Chinese ves- 

 sels were employing it on the Indian Ocean. The Chinese 

 are not a communicative people, and, whether as a marine 

 or a land device, the magnetic needle has always been re- 

 garded by them as animated by a spirit. This is the 

 guardian deity of the ship, and hence, from the beginning, 

 the compass has been shut up in a little cabinet in the 

 stern of the vessel, with other sanctified utensils, and jeal- 

 ously guarded from strangers. The instrument, moreover, 

 is adjusted for the course before the ship leaves port by the 

 ship's owner, and the navigator is therefore especially 

 solicitous that it should not be disturbed en voyage? Add 

 to all this the fact that a magnetic needle cannot be recog- 



1 Ibid, vol. i., c. 3. Barrow : A Voyage to Cochin China. I/ond., 1806, 

 355. Renaudot : Dissert, sur les Sciences des Chinois, 288-289. 



2 Hakluyt Soc. Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, 1869. Vartheina : 

 Travels, 31. 



3 Barrow, cit. sup. 



